Gardena Elks sending post cards for Red Ribbon Week

Each year in October, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America honor the memory of slain DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena with a Red Ribbon Campaign.

Camarena was kidnapped, tortured and killed because he was successfully investigating one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in Mexico.

The Elks has the largest all-volunteer drug awareness program in the country. For more than 31 years, the Elks have been providing educational materials to children, parents and schools at no cost.

This program has launched a national campaign to ask leaders in Washington, D.C. to uphold our nation’s drug laws and to remind everyone, especially our youth, of the dangers of using any illicit drug.

The Elks ask for President Barack Obama’s help in sending a message “that drugs are dangerous, that drug use leads to drug addiction, and that a hopeful future is one free of addiction.”

“Our goal is to have 200,000 Red Ribbon Week posts cards in the mail by Oct. 15,” an Elks spokesperson said.